The 1st UskoMus Seminar: "Music and Transcendence"
2–3 December 2010, Sibelius Museum, Piispankatu 17, Turku
Music is surrounded by ideas and beliefs for instance about its pure symbolism, emotionality and origins. Various belief systems and institutional religions, in turn, rely on diverse sonorous aesthetic practices, whether or not conceptualized as music. Music is used in a variety of religious rituals, enabling experiences of trance in some occasions. Many performers and creators of music are treated as extraordinary human beings or not humans at all – "stars", that is.
To address these and other dimensions of music and transcendence, the UskoMus research network organizes a two-day seminar with both academic speakers and representatives of different religious communities. The seminar is co-organized by the Sibelius Museum, the Doctoral School of Transmission of Cultural Meanings and the Finnish Society for Ethnomusicology. The seminar is funded by the Donner Institute for Research in Religious and Cultural History.